Back to the beginning

Aurelia
It did not take to long for me to gather all of the generals. Some had been asleep and woke to cold water splashed on them. One was even in bed with a serving girl; she had run from the tent with tears in her eyes and the young general stared at me with hate in his eyes.
Kairios, Galorian and Saira both stood by my side now at the head of the table. A map lay before us, showing our lands and the warlock lands. “We have to keep going.” I said starting off the meeting.
“We have no more men!” The younger one shouted at me.
“What is your name?” I asked him with a cool, calm.
“Attum, majesty.”
“Why are you such a coward? Why are you all such cowards? I look around at you and see no signs of battle. Each one of us fought on the front lines. Where were you? Hiding in with the old women and maids?”
“That’s not fair.” The old one chimed in.
“How so?”
“We all put our lives at risk just by being here.”
I shock my head in frustration. “Why did I appoint such fools? Your lives were at risk before I came along. The warlock king has been planning this for years. Your former queen was selling slaves to be turned into the demons we have been fighting. If you had sat around any longer, he would have come for you to.”
“There was never proof of slavery!” The youngest of us shouted.
Galorian cleared his throat and stepped forward. “I was the one who transported them. Adara had her men bring them to the capitol where I would take them by ship to Zephyrus.”
Attum spoke up with dark red coloring his cheeks. “Then you should be held accountable as well! Why is he not in a dungeons? Instead he warms your bed!”
I took a step towards the young fool, he had stepped far out of line. But a shadow passed me and had its hands were around the collar of Attum’s tunic. “Don’t even speak of my queen in such a way ever again or I will personally peel the skin from your body.” Kairios threw the man out of the tent. He fumbled on the ground and started to spout his own threats to an uncaring Kairios.
“You are stripped of your given title and are now banished from the army. Be free while you can find it.” I never wanted to see that man in my kingdom again.
When I turned back to the remaining generals, they had gone down to one knee and lowered their heads. “Forgive us.” The older one bagged me.
“There will be no more of this nonsense. I will fight for these lands, you know this by now, but I expect you to do the same. No more sitting around and waiting for the danger to pass. No more spitting off useless opinions when you cant even be bothered to get blood on your hands. I want to win this war, are you with me?”
They each drew a sword and placed on the ground at me feet. “We are with you.”
I looked at them each one by one and tried to determine the quality of what they were saying. This would be the last time that I would believe what they said.
“We have to keep moving forward, but not in the same way as we were. This war is already lost if we think we can keep matching them in battle. We have no way to know what powers and numbers they will have.”
“What can we do with our number so low against those demons?”
“I need a distraction. Then a force of my choosing will go to the capitol and attack him there.”
“What about us? Are we to be a sacrificial distraction?”
“No.” Saira said stepping forward. “When the caster is killed, the magic will break. This kind of magic needs to be maintained. They will turn back once the source is finished.”
So much power. If this was true then the amount of power that he had within was staggering. What could I do against that? I would have to think about that after this meeting.
“Then the plan is for us to continue on and you will go to his lands? How do we know if the other fails?”
“If I fail then you will die and it wont matter to us anymore. Only our children will know. If you fail then the lines of demons will invade our lands and turn our children as well. This is the last stand.”
“Who will go with you?”
“I will go.” Saira said.
“And I.” Added Kairios.
“I refuse to part again, I will go.”
Galorian, Saira and Kairios. The four of us would sneak in again and this time we wouldn’t leave until Zephyrus was dead.
“Galorian, leave your men here, appoint a new general from your ranks. Send the scouts out once more, I want to know what’s in the woods and beyond before we move on.”
As I looked at the map laid out on the table, my plan started to form. They would move out in two days. That would give the wounded long enough to be loaded up and sent to the villages near by. Those who could still fight would march onward. The four of us would split off and go through the woods as far as we could. From there we would travel undercover.
We would dress as commoners and travel off the roads. We would reach the mountains in a few days and then from there it wouldn’t be long before we got to the city. There we would form the next stage of our plans. There was the risk that my army would meet the enemy in battle. Time was of the utmost importance.
We spent the rest of the day planning out the smaller details. Chain of command was established and orders had been given for the wounded to be shipped out. Galorian’s men had been instructed to join my force and we would travel light on horse back and leave in the morning.
I walked out of the tent feeling clear of mind and set in my goal. My sword would soon taste the blood of Zephyrus. Galorian and Kairios followed next. Saira had left hours ago to spread the orders amongst the healers. I stood there watching both of my men stare each other down.
“How are we going to do this?” I asked them.
“I have no concerns.” Said Galorian with a shrug of his shoulders.
“I will not take orders from a pirate. Only from you.” Kairios said to me.
“Its going to take all four of us to make this work. I need you both to work together.”
“I will see to our preparations.” Kairios turned and stalked off. I could tell he was seething with anger. Better to let him go and talk to him alone later.
“You did well today. I thought there was a change in you but I see the fire returned.”
“I lied to you before. The marks on my arm, they came from a spell. Saira’s brother has marked me with a promise. He wants to own me.”
“He will not.”
“I know. I gave him my own promise. A kiss of death.”
We started to walk through the camp on our way back to the tent we now shared. “How are we going to survive the journey?”
“What do you mean?” He asked me.
“We cant be together in front of him. I cant do it.”
“Why doesn’t he join us?”
I was so shocked by his suggestion that I didn’t respond right away. How would that even work? Was it possible, to have them both?
“What do you want from me, Galorian?” I needed to know.
He stopped walking and took me in his arms. “I don’t want to own you or to have a throne next to you. I want to live, love and slay at your side. He is your king, I know this. But he does not.”
I looked up at him and saw truth in his eyes. He would be by my side, no matter where I was or who I was. I could burn as hot as the sun and he would bask in the heat of my passion. I stood up on the tips of my toes and pushed my lips to his. The kiss was intense and I found my legs wrapped around his waste. The rest of the walk to the tent was a blur.
His strong hands held me up against him while mine ran through his hair. As soon as we were in the tent he threw me onto the bed. Before I finished bouncing from the force of it I had me belt undone and was pulling down my pants. I looked up and he was doing the same. When his pants came down he sprung free at full length.
“Turn over.”
I did as he commanded and turned my back side to him. He spit on his hand and then leaned into me and licked me from top to bottom before coming to stand behind me. He spread my lips and shoved himself inside, hard. I wanted to cry out at the pain but instead bit my lip and enjoyed the pleasure of his harsh and forceful love. Right before I reached my pleasure he slapped my ass and howled my name.
He filled me to the core with his hot seed and we sagged into the bed together. I ached from pain and pleasure, breathing deep to settle my pounding heart.
We fell asleep after that, no one visited my dreams. I was at peace as I walked through the gardens and down the beaches with my children. When I woke I felt such pain at being away from them I had to let a few tears flow. Galorian woke to the sound of my sobs and held me close.
“You will see them again soon.” He said to me. How he knew that I was dreaming about the children was beyond me.
“I know I will. Come on lets get on our way, I want this done.”
We dressed together in riding cloths and had our armor packed up. I would leave my crown behind, no one would suspect me as the queen. We walked out and found Scorch and Galorian’s horse ready standing next to Blackfire and Star. Kairios and Saira were sitting together on a log sharing a loaf of bread.
“lets mount up.” I said to them as they did not yet notice us.
I gave Scorch a kiss on the snout and said, “its going to be a long journey, are you up for it?” She bobbed her head up and down in answer and I climbed onto her back. The others followed suit and we took off up the road at a quick pace. We needed to put as much distance between us as we could.
We rode at as quick of a pace as the woods would allow us. None of us talked to the other. Our focus was on the job at hand. However, the woods were filled with noise.
I started to slow when I heard the sound of marching. It was similar to the sound of rocks falling.